Reaching for the same knives

[ladybug93]

pacific salt se h1 is iwb every time i leave the house.

stretch 2 xl salt pe h2 is iwb around the house, or if i'm going to the beach, it gets paired with the pac salt.

manix 2 15v or dlc s30v is in my pocket frequently as my primary edc blade.

military 2 crucarta is in my pocket frequently in place of the manix for a primary EDC blade.

yojumbo dlc s30v also rotates in as a primary edc blade when i may be headed into a questionable area, or if i just want to feel cool.

i'll also throw my emerson delica with a signet ring in the back pocket on my weak side occasionally, especially when carrying the yojumbo because it gives me a belly option in case the need arises. this knife is a great backup in case you're attacked on your strong side and you need to create some space.


these are my most carried knives and what i consider their roles. i have a lot of others that get subbed in as well, but most commonly, it'll be the spydiechef, ikuchi, and ayoob in se cruwear.

i honestly don't know why i'm even looking at knives anymore. i have more than i can even manage to rotate through at this point, but i am still enticed by new designs or new steels in designs i prefer.

short list:
janisong
sage 5 lw salt
manix 2 lw salt
manix 2 salt
military 2 salt
stretch 2 xl k390
sage 6
something in spy27

[Enactive]

I also have a hearty sized pile of Spydies, but my most used and carried are the Santoku, mini paring knife, SpydieChef, V-Toku 2 Stretch 2, Natives (LW REX 45, G10 CruWear, & Salts LC PE and SE and MC SE), REX45 Manix 2, LC Pacific Salts and recently the K390 Leaf Jumper.

On the flip side I treasure my Kris and quite enjoy others that I don't carry much like the Baby Jess Horn, Hap40 Pakkawood delica, K390 SE Police 4, Phoenix, Rex45 Chief, 15V Manix 2, CW Ayoob, Manix 2 Backlock, and others.

To me the hobby has many aspects, and sharpening is a critical activity for maximum enjoyment and self-improvement.

As you might have guessed, I also don't really believe in favorites.

[bearfacedkiller]

I tend to stick with the same few knives as well but for my own reason. I own too many knives and I have found them hard to keep track of. On many occasions I have misplaced knives without even realizing it and then at some later date I find them. I started to wonder if I had lost any without being aware of it. My solution is to keep only two folders outside of my safe at a time. I also keep eight others on a shelf in the safe. Those ten are my current rotation. All others are either in their boxes or in one of my two large Spyderpacs. I occasionally rotate what knives are in my ten knife rotation but not as much as I should. Most of them are seriously neglected. Like most others have said, after a while you just know what you like.

[Wandering_About]

Lately, main carry has been either a MagnaCut Sebenza or a 15V Para 3, secondary (if I carry one) is either a Victorinox 7 or Electrician. Fixed blade, if I feel the need for one, is a little knife called an UNK by Scott Gossman in AEB-L blade steel.

Once in a while I go for something different, but that list contains about all I really want for knives right now. I definitely favor carryimg knives right around the 3 inch blade size.

[dan31]

Endura ZDP-189 for most everything. Manbug SE in H1 if I don’t carry the Endura.

[vivi]

I'm the opposite of the OP: I rotate irregularly among dozens of knives. Some get a more attention than others -- Militaries, Stretches, Polices, UKPKs, PM2s, GBs ...

I guess I'm still where Vivi was years ago. If the post office wasn't such a downer, at least half of my knives would be gone.

I'd cut my collection down to 30-50% of its current size if selling wasn't so tedious. been meaning to try bladebinge but the fees have put me off.

[vivi]

I tend to stick with the same few knives as well but for my own reason. I own too many knives and I have found them hard to keep track of. On many occasions I have misplaced knives without even realizing it and then at some later date I find them. I started to wonder if I had lost any without being aware of it. My solution is to keep only two folders outside of my safe at a time. I also keep eight others on a shelf in the safe. Those ten are my current rotation. All others are either in their boxes or in one of my two large Spyderpacs. I occasionally rotate what knives are in my ten knife rotation but not as much as I should. Most of them are seriously neglected. Like most others have said, after a while you just know what you like.

I have a similar system where I have pre-need back-ups, sentimental knives, steel variations etc. in my safe, and 5 or 6 folders and a few fixed blades out for my rotation.

[Wartstein]

Well, the very reason why for a long time I limited myself to owning ten Spydies at a max at each point in time exactly is that I only want and keep such that I really use more or less frequently. These days this is basically still the same, though admittedly it´s more like and up to fifteen Spydies now.
But still none that I don´t use and even no backups anymore in my possession.

Sure within this user-collection are still those I grab more than others: Main reason being that I prefer SE, and while I love for example the Manix 2 LW platform as well as the Stretch 1, I can´t or don´t have those with teeth.

The Endura 4 still has a special role as my overall most favorite folder of all times and all brands: I really also like the two PE examples I still have, one for its Micarta scales and the joy it is to sharpen VG10, the other for its HAP40, in my limited experience my favorite steel (with its "twin" REX45).

[Paul Ardbeg]

Is that knife by Fox the Ingeni?

Yes its indeed the Ingeni folder under the brandname MK.
My brother and me each bought one from the polish designer himself in holland at the Dutch knife exposition show. (Due to lack of Spydies at the show)
Its a great knife. Have bin using it for a month now and will make a review for it in off topic soon. S90V blade is a very nicely done very happy with its performance so far.

Here is a pictures of my carry's today.

Thanks for sharing Apollo! Dig the design of the Ingeni and looking forward to the review. Shame I missed the DKE this year, hopefully next year!

Your welcome. I will keep you posted ones i posted the review have a bunch of cutting chores still waiting for me this weekend so i will probably make it sometime next week. It was the first time in many years we went to the DKE but i think we will make a habbit of it again so who knows ill run into you next year!
Due hope K&T brings some more spydies then as there prices where amazing but they almost had nothing with them except for a collection they needed to sell off for a family. Did pick up my Blue stepped Ti chap there for an incredible price.

Would be great meeting you Apollo That blue stepped Ti Chap is a grail knife

[Brock O Lee]

Yes I also only reach for the same few...

Mostly either a Military (1 or 2), a PM2, or a UKPK if I want something small. Plus a few Seki K390 wharnie garage dwellers that see constant use.

For other brands, I always carry an alox SAK, and sometimes I switch to a large CRK instead of a Spydie.

[Skywalker]

I was curious about this a while back (i.e., how much was I using the same couple models vs choosing more variety) and at the end of 2023 I put together a google spreadsheet with every knife that I owned. In 2024, I tracked how many times each one actually got carried.

In the final count Spyderco absolutely dominated over other brands, and there was a pretty clear distinction between the 20+ carry models (Manix 2, Endela, Delica, Endura, PM2, UKPK), the 15-5 carry models, and the less than 5 carry models. Clear favorites, others semi-regularly in the pocket providing some variety to mix things up, and still others carried once or twice and then "oh yeah, there's a reason I don't use this much."

In the end I was encouraged by this, because

1. There was more variety than I thought in the top models, especially because some of those represent multiple versions in different steels. I'm not actually just carrying a Delica every day.
2. I actually am mostly choosing to carry Spydercos, and was reminded of why their designs work better for me than other brands
3. I can still find new things that I like a lot! The UKPK (one of the top 5) was new that year, as was the Bodacious (about two weeks of carry - would've been higher if it had been picked up earlier in the year). Haven't been tracking in 2025 but the Military 2 (15V) is similarly becoming a regular when I can carry a larger knife.

tl;dr - I've got favorites that get carried a lot but I still like mixing it up and discovering new models, too.

[malice]

I was curious about this a while back (i.e., how much was I using the same couple models vs choosing more variety) and at the end of 2023 I put together a google spreadsheet with every knife that I owned. In 2024, I tracked how many times each one actually got carried.

That's actually a very cool and interesting idea.

I imagine if you get a large enough group of people to do it, it might actually get some really interesting data.

Also makes me wonder if Sal/Eric would be willing to divulge knives that seem to have communicating sales or surprisingly enough didn't
E.g. I can imagine people either buying a Police 4, Stretch XL, Endura or Native Chief LW, but not more than one or two unless there is enough of a differentiating factor between the models in use due to other factors (excluding collectors)
Same with the models that have distinct Salt and Hi-carbon non-rustproof steel versions: Are these models complementary or substitutes ?

[abbazaba]

Yup, I've gotten pretty boring. I limit myself to a handful outside of the safe and can go months without digging into it.

This time of year tends to shake things up as the weather changes and the clothing does as well. Lighter weight knives seem more attractive with lighter weight clothing. Lots of Endura and Sage lately.

[zuludelta]

Hey forumites,

the other day I realised it's been a long while since I bought a new knife.
Not because I don't like the newly revealed knives, but mostly because the knives I have just work so well.
For most tasks, I find myself grabbing the same knives, the choice is almost automatic.
It's both a testament to how wel designed these knives are, and how boring I've become in my choices ;-)

Any one else suffer from that "problem" ?

I tend to stick to using the same models, at least for work use, now that I've pretty much zeroed in on what qualities & features I prefer in a work knife. I think consistency when it comes to work tools contributes to efficiency & safety (no fumbling around with a relatively unfamiliar design). I will change up the steel type and/or edge configuration if I think such a change is warranted for the day, but the models stay the same. Spyderco's practice of putting out variants of their most popular models in different steels and edge configurations makes them an ideal brand for this. I will switch things up every now and then just to keep things interesting (either by using an old favourite or going with the occasional new/new-to-me design), but I always go back to using the mainstays.

That said, it took several years of exploring Spyderco's product line before I settled on my current work knife rotation, and I am always open to the possibility that some new model or a model I haven't tried will replace one of the knives in my rotation. After all, when I first started using Spydercos for work over 12 years ago, the mainstays of my work knife rotation were backlocks (various versions of the Dragonfly 2, Native 5 Lightweight, Delica 4, Endura 4, and Karahawk). One by one, those models were eventually replaced by other models (though some of them made returns to the line-up only to be replaced again), until I finally got to my current work knife rotation of Compression Lock folders (Yojimbo 2, Lil' Temperance 3 Lightweight, Para Military 2, Para 3 Lightweight, Sage 5 Lightweight).

[Wallach]

There's definitely a small group of knives I reach for the most. I've been shrinking my collection down around those knives because of it.

For a long time it was my Native 5 Salt, as it was the first knife I put aftermarket scales on and I was really loving it. I actually prefer carrying this knife without a pocket clip, I feel like it's one of those knives where the ergos improve a lot without one. The other Spyderco I'd put in this category is my Manix 2 Salt, which I also put in AWT scales (eventually). That one is the Spyderco I carry the most these days. There's also a LW Chaparral and a Delica wharncliffe that I keep around as I find them super useful beater knives. I would put the Native Chief on this list, but I sold mine expecting to replace it with the CruCarta version after those got announced and, well... we're still waiting for those to surface. It'll probably jump ahead of my other Spydercos whenever it releases, I absolutely love the Chief.

My other mainstay knives aren't Spydies; a custom Hogue Deka compound wharncliffe (that one has OG XL scales with Northern Lights cerakote) and a Quiet Carry Drift L (which may be my favorite knife of all time).